The Wild Reed

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Yes, Just Imagine . . .

As a writer, Matthew Albracht deftly explores the intersections of personal growth, collective healing, and systemic change. Recently, he shared a piece on his substack that begins by acknowledging that “What’s happening in our nation today feels quite like a dream.” . . . A bad dream that’s actually “all too real” as we watch “democratic institutions and norms crumble before [our] eyes, and critical government agencies . . . severely gutted and even eliminated.”

Yet as Albracht reminds us, it didn’t have to be this way.

Indeed, we could instead be “witnessing a radical strengthening of democracy and society, prioritizing healing instead of harming – beyond what we had ever dared to imagine, or maybe even knew was possible.”

We could, in other words, have a progressive Democratic administration led by President Marianne Williamson, rather than an increasingly fascist Republican regime led by Donald Trump and his “minders” Stephen Miller and Russ Vought.

Following (with added links) is an excerpt from Albract’s piece, “What if Marianne Had Won.”

__________________

Imagine . . .

A presidency that provides moral clarity in ways we haven’t seen before. Untethered to calcified norms and big-moneyed influence, it looks right into the heart and soul of the human experience.

It is tackling root causes, not just symptoms. Instead of gutting health and science agencies while paying lip service to “making America healthy again,” we are implementing a Universal Coverage healthcare system focused on preventing chronic illness rather than just treating symptoms. Working to empower real, deep and lasting health on every front possible.

. . . Imagine a president working to fortify democratic stability rather than tear it down. Someone pushing for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, among other critical measures, to secure a thriving democratic society. Someone willing to finally rein in our increasingly concentrated cohort of corporate/mega wealthy overlords, instead of empowering them further.

Someone who stood firmly against the neoliberal tide – the whole corrosive system of deregulation, privatization, corporate capture, corporate lobbyists acting as policy-makers, and the quarterly-profit-obsessed market straightjacket that treats money as supreme over human values – that has hollowed out democracy’s promises over the decades. And someone who resisted the newer authoritarian impulse to silence dissent and punish free expression, which threatens to shatter what remains.

Rather than economic chaos driven by reckless executive orders and wildly erratic tariffs, we see strategic investments in policies that lift everyone up – securing funding for the foundations of a flourishing economy and culture: universal childcare, debt-free higher education, and renewable energy jobs that sustain both our people and our planet.

This didn’t have to be an imagination, it could have been reality. This administration could have been led by a President Marianne Williamson. That was actually her Democratic Presidential campaign platform, her vision, what she believed in with every fiber of her being and would have worked for.

What inspired me to write this whole piece was that I had an actual (and much sweeter) dream recently. In it, Marianne pulled through as the Dem candidate after Biden had come to his senses and withdrawn earlier in the primary. She won the primary and then handily defeated Trump. In my dream, I didn’t feel the slightest bit surprised, as she was speaking to something much deeper in the human experience . . . and that resonated with so many people who are tired of all the political games (and lies).

In my dream, I and others were helping her assemble an extraordinary, leading-edge cabinet. She was moving boldly forward on so many fronts, everything described above and much more – visionary shifts in how we organize society so that it serves everyone, heals what’s broken, and repairs what’s been ignored. I could viscerally feel the magic of what was happening in my bones. It felt inspiring, sweet and true.

When I woke from the dream that morning, into our current reality, the sweetness of course quickly evaporated. “Disheartened” doesn’t begin to capture how I felt. I’ve worked with Marianne Williamson for more than twenty-five years and served as a volunteer policy advisor on both her presidential campaigns. So when I dream of her winning, it isn’t just idle fantasy – it’s the sadness of knowing how much her vision could have offered, and how thoroughly it was mocked, dismissed, and iced out by the establishment. While she was dismissed by many as unqualified, what should be obvious now is that she had the most important qualification of all: the prescience to see what was coming, and the courage to name what would be required to prevent it.

She saw what so many in the establishment and media could not – or refused to – see: that Biden represented the same corporate-controlled politics people were exhausted by, and that Democrats weren’t speaking to those frustrations or acting on them. And she warned that Trump had gained not just political traction but a psycho-spiritual hold on millions of Americans. She knew his message, however false, resonated with people’s fears and frustrations. She saw it clearly, long before most were willing to admit his force hadn’t waned in comparison to the milquetoast candidacies of Biden (and later Harris).

Marianne often quotes Franklin Roosevelt, highlighting three lessons we would do well to remember today. First, his insistence that we need not fear fascism as long as democracy delivers on its promises – promises like universal healthcare and tuition-free higher education, which she warned we had failed to fulfill. Second, his reminder that “a necessitous man is not a free man” – a truth made vivid in our current age of deepening inequality and inequity. And third, his conviction that the most important job of the presidency is not administrative, but moral leadership itself. Marianne embodied that principle in ways that could have moved the needle had she not been sidelined.

– Matthew Albracht
Excerpted from “What if Marianne Had Won?”
Matthew Albracht’s Substack
September 23, 2025

For highlights of The Wild Reed’s coverage of Marianne Williamson’s 2020 presidential campaign, see the following chronologically-ordered posts:
• Talkin’ ’Bout An Evolution: Marianne Williamson’s Presidential Bid
• Why Marianne Williamson Is a Serious and Credible Presidential Candidate
• Marianne Williamson: Reaching for Higher Ground
• “A Lefty With Soul”: Why Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson Deserves Some Serious Attention
• Marianne Williamson Plans on Sharing Some “Big Truths” on Tonight's Debate Stage
• Friar André Maria: Quote of the Day – June 28, 2019
• Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living at a Critical Moment in Our Democracy”
• Caitlin Johnstone: “Status Quo Politicians Are Infinitely ‘Weirder’ Than Marianne Williamson”
• Marianne Williamson On What It Will Take to Defeat Donald Trump
• “This Woman Is Going to Win the Nomination”: Matt Taibbi on Marianne Williamson in Iowa
• The Relevance and Vitality of Marianne Williamson’s 2020 Presidential Campaign
• Quote of the Day – November 4, 2019
• Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”
• Marianne Williamson and the Power of Politicized Love
• Quote of the Day – December 14, 2019
• Marianne Williamson: “I Am Not Suspending My Candidacy”
• Marianne Williamson on New Day with Christi Paul – 01/04/20
• “A Beautiful Message, So Full of Greatness”
• “I Learned So Much From the Experience”
• Deep Gratitude

Quote of the Day

The Republican Party is unabashedly publicly embracing Nazi propoganda. At Charlie Kirk’s funeral, the Trump administration chose to push Stephen Miller onto a national stage. And he reached into the poisonous well of the infamous Nazi Joseph Goebbels, plagiarizing a speech he gave to rile his base over the death of a 22-year-old Nazi named Horst Wessel. And then he poured those words into the ears of grieving Republican Christian’s. Google the 1932 “storm is coming” speech if you have doubts.

It is almost impossible to wrap your mind around that. Republicans are openly using Hitler’s playbook to mobilize their base against the left.

In the wake of tragedy, they turned a memorial into a rallying cry, not for unity, not for healing, but for rebellion and division. They weaponized grief with the very words that once fueled genocide. In a time of grief these fine Christian’s turned to the Nazi Party for guidance. Really think about that.

This is not just politics. It is horrific. It is obscene. It is unacceptable. And it must stop.

We cannot tolerate an administration, a movement, or a party that believes Nazi history and Nazi language are tools to be deployed against fellow Americans.

This is fascism, out in the open, dripping with contempt for the values this nation claims to stand for. And every Republican who remains silent in the face of this obscenity is complicit.

– Jason Duchin
via social media
September 24, 2025

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

“Hopeful and Grounded”: Omar Fateh’s Vision of Democratic Socialism

Our campaign has gotten a lot of hate from conservatives and MAGA partisans; they’re trying to say that we’re too radical or too far-left. But what they’re really saying is that our campaign is too friendly toward renters and workers, too close with immigrants and people that are just trying to make ends meet. When these extreme elements come after us, it means we’re doing something right. We shouldn’t be afraid of that. . . . We know that the right-wingers are going after us because they are scared of the working-class, multiracial coalition that’s being built in Minneapolis.

– Omar Fateh
Excerpted from “A Conversation with
Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh”
The Nation
September 5, 2025

I share this evening a number of pieces relating to Minnesota Senator Omar Fateh’s run for Minneapolis mayor. I’ll start by sharing what I posted on Facebook this past Saturday . . .

Of course, what I experienced on Saturday (and what I experience in the form of insulting comments whenever I write supportive comments in response to Omar’s social media posts) is nothing compared to the sickeningly racist and at times threatening comments that Omar receives on a daily basis. (For more about this “racist and factless meltdown” by the right over Omar and his campaign, see this previous Wild Reed post.)

As most reading this would know, Omar made headlines in July when he won the Minneapolis Democratic Party’s endorsement for mayor. Omar generates particular interest due to the fact that he is running as a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed candidate, is a young Muslim man, and is challenging an establishment-backed incumbent, Jacob Frey. Fateh’s endorsement victory reflected and channeled Zohran Mandani-like energy. That energy remains, even though Mayor Frey challenged Omar’s victory on procedural grounds, leading to the endorsement being revoked.

The photograph of Omar I used on Facebook this past Saturday was one I took last Wednesday when Omar joined with fellow progressive mayoral candidates Jazz Hampton and Rev. DeWayne Davis for a “Rally for Change” at the Lake Harriet Bandshell in south Minneapolis. My friend and downstairs neighbor Joseph accompanied me to this event.

It was an event that served as both a kick-off to the start of early voting and the partnership of the campaigns of Omar, Jazz and DeWayne to win new leadership in Minneapolis City Hall.

So who is Omar Fateh? Following is how he introduces himself on his official “Omar for Minneapolis Mayor” website.

My name is Omar Fateh, and I currently serve as the Minnesota State Senator representing District 62, a seat I first won in 2020 and again in 2022. My terms in the Minnesota Legislature and my current mayoral campaign are the culmination of a life dedicated to improving the lives of my neighbors and fellow Minnesotans, informed by progressive values and strong community bonds.

I was born to immigrant parents from Somalia who instilled in me the values of a strong education, personal sacrifice, and community leadership. My early dedication to public service led me to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, where I engaged with at-risk youth, especially students of color, to connect them with greater educational opportunities.

My early service to Minneapolis included my role as a Community Specialist, where I worked to improve the City’s outreach to East African communities. I then became a project coordinator for the MN Department of Transportation, functioning as a liaison between the state and outside researchers investigating the impact of MNDOT projects on communities and the environment. I also served in the MN Department of Revenue. Throughout my career in public service I have also been employed at the University of Minnesota as a business analyst.

In 2020, I won state-level office and became the first Somali American and the first Muslim to serve in the Minnesota Senate. I authored 54 bills during the 2021-2022 legislative session, including a bill to exempt fentanyl test strips from classification as drug paraphernalia, which passed and has resulted in increased overdose prevention.

After winning reelection in 2022, I was appointed chair of the Higher Education Committee, and vice-chair of the Human Services Committee. My most notable achievements during this term have been a higher-education bill proposing free public college for students from households that make less than $80,000/year, and serving as chief author of a bill to secure a minimum wage and worker protections for Uber and Lyft drivers.

My career in public service is defined by my belief that community members are experts on their own needs, and leaders must listen to them when developing policy. I have deep ties in our community and have worked on issues such as environmental and racial justice through restorative urban planning, including reparations to Black neighborhoods destroyed by highways. I will continue fighting for these initiatives as Mayor to ensure that Minneapolis becomes an equitable and welcoming city for all of its residents.

And why Omar running for mayor? Here’s how he answered that question in a recent Star Tribune profile . . .

I’m running for Mayor of Minneapolis to work alongside our community to achieve the vibrant, loving city we know Minneapolis can be. We know that for working people, it’s getting harder to build our lives here. And with Donald Trump back in power, everything we’ve worked for is in jeopardy. It’s time to push back with forward-thinking leadership. Mayor Frey and the status quo are failing Minneapolis residents. We deserve leadership that makes it so people want to live here, raise families here, and start businesses here. Minneapolis is ready to invest in long-term solutions that will bring stability to our communities. We all want to invest in our shared success. We deserve an affordable city that is accountable to us.

In an interview with Peter Lucas in the September 5 issue of The Nation, Omar shared what he sees as the key issues facing the residents of Minneapolis.

Affordability is one of the main issues I hear about all the time. For me, addressing that starts with raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2028. It also means passing a rent stabilization policy, incentivizing new construction, and protecting tenants.

A lot of constituents have voiced their concerns about having a hostile federal government with Donald Trump in the executive and a Republican trifecta, with a Supreme Court that’s backing him. We need a mayor that’s going to stand up to protect all of our communities against the hostile federal government. We’ve always said, especially after the raid in our district, that MPD should never cooperate or collaborate with ICE. We deserve a mayor that will be honest and transparent and won’t run from issues relating to the federal government.

Another issue we’ve been campaigning on is public safety. We need to diversify our public safety response. A recent city report came out showing that nearly half of MPD calls actually don’t require an armed response, which tells us that we need to fund non-police programs like mental health responders, crisis teams, and youth programs. We need to fix the broken public safety system that our current mayor promised to reform after the murder of George Floyd. Our message is simple: When you call 911, everyone deserves an appropriate, timely response.

Yesterday, Omar and his campaign were featured in a Jacobin article by Lisa Featherstone. I share it below in its entirety.

Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh
on His Run for Mayor

By Liza Featherstone

Jacobin
September 22, 2025
What does democratic socialism mean to Omar Fateh, Minneapolis mayoral candidate? “It’s pretty clear cut: you want to take care of everyone.”

Municipal socialism is an increasingly popular idea, and not only in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani is favored to become mayor in November. New polling in the Minneapolis race for mayor shows democratic socialist challenger Omar Fateh gaining on the incumbent, Jacob Frey, a centrist Democrat. A new poll shows Fateh only five points behind Frey, up from thirteen points behind two weeks ago. Interviewing Fateh late last week, it was easy to understand why the thirty-five-year-old state senator is breaking through. He may not win, but in a bleak, unstable time, his vision of socialism is hopeful and grounded.

Asked what democratic socialism means to him, Fateh, whose first child was born last month, had a straightforward answer. “It’s pretty clear-cut,” he said. “You want to take care of everyone.”

He sees democratic socialism as a needed corrective to our political system, which tends to be rigged for the elites. “Within the Democratic Party,” he explained, “there are not enough voices for working people.”

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party proved Fateh’s point this summer. After Fateh won the party’s endorsement through its usual process – which is not a primary, but rather a caucus and convention, in which delegates vote on the nominees – the state party withdrew their endorsement of him on a technicality, challenging the legitimacy of the process under what many supporters of Fateh’s campaign say was pressure from the incumbent mayor Jacob Frey’s supporters and party donors. Representative Ilhan Omar and sixteen other Minneapolis Farmer–Labor Democrats condemned the state party’s move as “inexcusable” and said that it reflected “blatant corruption” and the “influence of big money in our politics.” Frey still has the support of establishment Democrats like Governor Tim Walz and Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The son of Somali immigrants, Fateh says he grew up hearing his father talk about the US Civil Rights Movement. But like many of his generation, Fateh wasn’t engaged in politics until he was inspired by Bernie Sanders’s 2016 bid for the presidency. He remembers hearing the socialist senator and former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, speak for the first time, and “not knowing what democratic socialism was, but saying, hey, I identify with everything that he’s talking about.”

Encouraged by a friend to attend a Democratic Socialists of America meeting, he went. At the meeting, he recalls, there were some disagreements among the members who favored getting involved in electoral politics and those who did not, a debate that he notes is still ongoing. But Fateh felt, then as now, that more unites than divides socialists. “We debate the process” of how to build a better world, he says, “but the vision is still the same.”

In 2020, the same year that Zohran Mamdani won his state assembly seat, Fateh ran for state senate as a socialist and won. There, Fateh has been a leader in the statewide push to democratize higher education, winning tuition-free college for all students with household incomes under $80,000. Because tuition is not the only economic barrier for working class people pursuing higher education, Fateh also pushed for and won stipends for childcare, transportation, housing, and food, as well as grants for colleges to establish food pantries for students as well as mental health support. For the first time in over a decade, in a time of declining college attendance nationwide, Minnesota has seen an increase in enrollment across all its public institutions.

“We weren’t able to get everything we wanted,” Fateh says, acknowledging that he had originally been fighting for universal free tuition and that these gains are a compromise. “But we took a damn good first step that we can build upon.”

In the city in which George Floyd was murdered by police in May 2020, Fateh says there have been “no real meaningful changes, and there is no plan for any meaningful, transformational public safety reform. Our message has been very clear: We can have a public safety system that works for everyone.”

Fateh is running not on police abolition, but on reforms similar to those of Zohran Mamdani. Both mayoral candidates argue that many of the 911 calls – Fateh says nearly half in Minneapolis, citing a study by the city itself – currently handled by police could be better and more humanely handled by mental health responders. This way, he says, the police “can focus on violent crime, and only violent crime, and that, as a result, can make our city safer.” He also favors what he calls a “holistic approach” to safety, which includes a stronger social safety net, good jobs with good wages, affordable rent, and plenty of activities for young people.

While most socialist campaigning occurs on the terrain of the Democratic primary, part of the appeal of a general election is bringing redistributive politics to the people who aren’t part of the primary process: those who don’t vote often, aren’t registered with a party or even voters who may have cast their ballot for Trump last time.

“Last year, Trump won on a populist message,” Fateh observes. “He ran on affordability, on people’s pockets hurting.” Like Mamdani, who began his mayoral campaign talking with working-class Trump voters, Fateh argues that socialism can woo some workers away from the Right. Minneapolis is a blue city, but Fateh recalls chatting with some Trump supporters at a coffee shop early on in his campaign, one of them wearing a red MAGA hat, and finding that many of their concerns were just like those of other working people: corporate accountability, affordability, and the challenges faced by small businesses. Fateh has been talking about a commercial vacancy tax and other ways to ease those challenges, wisely seeing that such moves can help erode the MAGA base and improve the lives of people who depend on small-business income.

As New York governor Kathy Hochul surprisingly acknowledged in her recent endorsement of Mamdani, with Trump in office, cities urgently need true fighters. Here again, socialists may be better able to deliver.

“The Trump administration is going to make you choose between upholding your values or losing funding,” Fateh acknowledges. The moment will take special unity, he says, among “our partners, with the county, and state, to make sure that the funding is there to meet [the city’s] basic needs and services.” It will be especially important, given Trump’s constant threats to defund cities, he says, to make the rich pay their fair share.

Asked what he hopes to have accomplished by the time he leaves office as mayor, Fateh doesn’t hesitate. He aspires to make Minneapolis “a true union city” with “labor standards that meet the moment,” a city in which the unhoused are housed, and getting the services they need, including mental health care and addiction treatment, a city in which young people have after-school activities, summer jobs and schools in which they can thrive; an end to the pollution and consequently high rates of asthma afflicting working-class and poor communities; and a safer city, one in which when a person calls 911 they get the response they need, and in time.

“All of that is possible,” says Fateh with a smile.

– Liza Featherstone
Jacobin
September 22, 2025

I conculde this post with the September 18 Wedge LIVE podcast’s “bike ride conversation” with Omar Fateh.

This 40-minute interview, hosted by John Edwards, is a novel yet serious deep-dive into Omar’s campaign for Minneapolis mayor.

Related Off-site Links:
Four Candidates for Minneapolis Mayor Weigh In on Major Issues Facing the City – Jon Collins (MPR News, September 19, 2025).
People “Are Tired of Backroom Decisions”: A Conversation with Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh – Peter Lucas (The Nation, September 5, 2025).
Omar Fateh Has All the Right Enemies – Alex Skopic (Current Affairs, September 5, 2025).
State DFL tries to disenfranchise the City DFL – David Tilsen (Southside Pride, September 3, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Stab Omar Fateh in the Back – Concernicus (August 27, 2025).
DFL Reverses Omar Fateh Endorsement – Left Reckoning (August 26, 2025).
Democrats in Minnesota Revoke the Mayoral Endorsement of Omar Fateh – I Am Blakeley (August 23, 2025).
The State DFL Spits on the Minneapolis DFL – Steve Timmer (LeftMN, August 23, 2025).
Minnesota DFL Revokes Endorsement for Omar Fateh in Minneapolis Mayoral Race – Naasir Akailvi (KARE 11 News, August 21, 2025).
Rep. Ilhan Omar Condemns Party’s Decision to Throw Out Fateh Endorsement – Torey Van Oot (Axios, August 21, 2025).
How Did This Happen? – Ed Felien (Southside Pride, August 5, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Endorse Socialist Omar Fateh for Mayor Over Incumbent Democrat Jacob Frey – AllSides (July 21, 2025).
Who Is Omar Fateh? Mamdani of Minneapolis Faces MAGA Abuse – Kate Plummer (Newsweek, July 15, 2025).
CAIR-Minnesota Condemns Anti-Muslim, Racist Hate Targeting Sen. Omar Fateh Amid Rising Political Violence – CAIR-Minnesota (July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Gets Its Own Mamdani – Kayla Bartsch (National Review, July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh Faces Racist Trolling: “Go to Mogadishu” – Times of India (July 14, 2025).
Omar Fateh Will Work Across the Aisle If Elected Mayor – Melody Hoffmann (Southwest Voices, April 2, 2025).

UPDATES: Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh Says His Campaign Office Was Vandalized – MPR News (September 25, 2025).
Minnesota Sen. Omar Fateh Says He Won’t Back Down Despite Islamophobic Threats – Brianna Kelly (Bring Me the News, September 25, 2025).
Rep. Ilhan Omar Endorses Omar Fateh for Mayor of Minneapolis – Esme Murphy (CBS News Minnesota, October 12, 2025).
Minnesota Sen. Omar Fateh on Housing, Trump, Corruption in Politics, and Crime – KatGetsMoney (October 12, 2025).
Omar Fateh Wants Minneapolis Police to Arrest Federal Agents Who Wear Masks – Anthony Gockowski (Alpha News, October 27, 2025).
Escalating Threats Towards Omar Fateh Reveal Challenges for Muslim Politicians in Minnesota – Mohamed Ibrahim (Sahan Journal, October 27, 2025).
The “Mamdani of Minneapolis” Is Banking on a Grassroots Campaign to Unseat the Democratic Mayor – Rachel Leingang (The Guardian, October 30, 2025).

Monday, September 22, 2025

Something to Think About . . .

An “Illusion of Action”

Closer to the Edge is a reader-supported publication on the Substack platform. It posted the following article yesterday.

Well, look at that – Canada, the U.K., and Australia just went and recognized Palestine like it’s the most natural damn thing in the world, while America sits in the corner drooling on itself, shackled to Trump’s bloated ego. Our allies are out here making moves toward peace – or at least putting on the costume of it – and we’re still clinging to some delusional fever dream cooked up in a Mar-a-Lago tanning bed. It’s like watching the cool kids form a band while the U.S. is outside pounding Natty Light and screaming about how real music died with Skynyrd.

Because here’s the deal: Trump’s policies aren’t just stupid, they’re radioactive. We’re spiraling into this sweaty, paranoid isolationism where every foreign handshake looks like a plot against us. He’s convinced half the country that being the world’s leader means hiding in a bunker with a gun in one hand and a bucket of KFC in the other, snarling at anybody who dares to suggest working with allies. And while everyone else is trying to jury-rig some fragile hope for a two-state solution, Trump’s foreign policy doctrine is basically: “Screw the world, America’s drunk and driving home.”

So what does that leave us with? A burned-out empire teetering on the edge, too busy huffing its own supply of nationalism to realize the world has moved on. This isn’t strength – it’s cowardice dressed up in red, white, and blue polyester. And when our oldest allies start ghosting us on matters of war and peace, it doesn’t just make America look weak – it makes us irrelevant. A once-mighty nation trading in its passport for a shotgun and a recliner, muttering “America First” while the rest of the world quietly changes the locks.

– Closer to the Edge
September 21, 2025

Meanwhile, others are critical of the international recognition of Palestine, noting that it’s a mere “fantasy of statehood” while ever these same international players continue to fund Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Multiple Western governments over the weekend, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, jointly recognized Palestine as a state for the first time.

However, many advocates for Palestinian freedom and self-determination have said that the official recognition of Palestine is only a symbolic first step and will not do anything to change the situation so long as these governments continue selling weaponry being used by Israel to level Gaza.

In a column written for The Guardian, French journalist Rokhaya Diallo criticized French President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to officially recognize Palestine on Monday, for not doing more to hinder Israel’s power to wage war against the Palestinians.

“Macron’s ‘solemn announcement’ to the UN General Assembly on Palestine is planned for next Monday, 22 September,” she explained. “Wouldn’t it be a better first step for France to announce concrete sanctions against Israel? Netanyahu is under an international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, yet he was allowed to use French airspace when traveling to the US in July.”

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last year.

Writing in +972 Magazine, Palestinian journalist Alaa Salama similarly argued that recognizing Palestine would simply create “the illusion of action” unless Western governments take further steps to sanction Israel.

“Now, more than ever, symbolic gestures are worse than useless,” he argued. “They buy time for the regime committing the crimes and drain urgency from the only remedies that matter: ending the genocide, sanctioning the perpetrator, isolating the apartheid system, and insisting without apology on equal rights and the right of return. This is not extremism. It is the bare minimum of justice.”

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the actions of Western governments were still “utterly failing to stop the genocide” and that they needed serious sanctions in order to “stop Israel’s atrocities” in Gaza.

. . . Inès Abdel Razek, executive director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, said in a roundtable discussion with Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka that Western nations’ support for a theoretical Palestinian state were not the same as support for actual Palestinian self-determination.

“In this context, genocide in Gaza is met not with consequences but with ceremony,” she said. “The [Palestinian Authority] clings to optics, and Western states embrace symbolic gestures, while Palestinians are left with neither justice nor statehood, only a widening gap between lived reality and international performance.”

Yara Hawri, co-director of Al-Shabaka, argued during the same panel discussion that recognition of a Palestinian state at this point was pointless given that Israel has made Gaza unlivable and is moving forward with plans to annex the West Bank as well, with officials recently approving the E1 settlement plan that would cut off the key city of East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory and make Palestinian statehood impossible.

“We are a colonized, besieged, and occupied people facing genocide in Gaza,” she said. “Any serious political engagement must begin from this reality, not from the illusion of a state that does not exist. Instead of halting genocide and forced starvation – much of it facilitated by the very states offering recognition – we are told to focus on a fantasy of statehood that no one is willing to bring into being.”

– Brad Reed
Excerpted from “Western Governments Recognize
Palestinian State, But Continue to Fund
Israeli Government Making It Inviable”
Common Dreams
September 22, 2025

Finally, the UK-based Novara Media shared the following about the Palestinian flag being raised outside the building that now constitutes Palestine’s London embassy.

Crowds gathered outside what was previously the Palestine Mission to the UK premises – now the official Palestinian embassy – in Hammersmith, west London to watch the flag-raising ceremony on Monday 22 September.

It comes after the UK government said it would join leaders from Australia, France and Canada in finally recognising Palestine as a state on 21 September, as Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza continues.

Outside the embassy, Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot said: “It comes as our people in Gaza are being starved, bombed, and buried under the rubble of their homes, as our people in the West Bank are being ethnically cleansed, brutalised by daily state-sponsored terrorism, land theft and suffocating oppression.

“Yet, this moment stands as a defiant act of truth, a refusal to let genocide be the final word; a refusal to accept that occupation is permanent; a refusal to be erased and a refusal to be dehumanised.”

Scottish first minister and SNP leader John Swinney said it was a “great honour” to attend the ceremony and described it as a “defining moment.”

Ambassador Zomlot explained the symbolism of the Palestinian flag’s colours to those gathered: “Black for our mourning, white for our hope, green for our land and red for the sacrifices of our people.”